The present invention is related to sporting equipment in general and in particular to a device for practicing bowling.
Many persons interested in learning a sport or in improving their proficiency in a sport with which they are familiar employ practice devices. In golf, for example, there is available for practice plastic golf balls which, when struck, travel but a short distance and are generally safe to be used in relatively confined areas. The action of the ball, when struck, relates to the player the nature of the strike and whether or not an improvement in this regard should be made. Also in golf there is provided apparatus for improving putting which may be used on a horizontal surface such as, for example, a living room floor or the like. Some of the putting practice devices employ electro-mechanical means for returning a putted ball to the putter. In the sport of tennis, ball machines and backboards are employed for the purpose of teaching the sport to a new player and for the purpose of improving the skills of an experienced player. The sport of baseball also employs ball machines. In baseball, the ball machine takes the form of a pitching machine for "throwing" a ball to a batter.
Heretofore, in the sport of bowling, a person who desired to learn the game or practice and improve certain skills in bowling, such as, for example, the swing, the release and the follow-through, have had to attend a conventional bowling alley. When attending a conventional bowling alley, it is frequently necessary to pay for each line of bowling and, as is the case in many sports, the cost of the lines is increasing and in many areas has increased to a level where it is becoming impractical, or at least highly burdensome to pay the cost in order to practice certain skills. Moreover, with the ever-increasing popularity of the sport of bowling, which has given rise to an ever-increasing number of leagues which use the available bowling alleys, it is becoming more and more difficult to obtain the use of a bowling alley at a convenient time.